Kick the Can and Cook the Beans

Story Published:
Jun 26, 2014 at 10:00 AM PDT

Eating beans is a healthy and inexpensive way to add protein to your diet but buying canned beans means more cost and waste. Sara Tetreault, of the blog go gingham, showed Dave how easy it is to cook dried beans.

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Cooking with dried beans
Canned beans can have sugar, preservatives, calcium chloride, calcium disodium, and color protectors – basically a bunch of junk – if buying canned beans, be sure and read the ingredients.
1. When buying dried beans, you can purchase them by the pound bag or in the bulk food section. 2. Dried beans can be cooked in a slow-cooker, a pressure cooker, or on the stove top. They all produce the same result but cooking times vary.

3. A favorite method: slow-cooker. Cooking dried beans in a slow-cooker that automatically shuts off means you don’t have to be home to tend the stove.
4. Always make a large batch, use what you need, and freeze the rest in sizes that are right for your family to use.
5. When recipes call for “1 can of beans” the equivalent is about 1 ½ cups cooked.

Here’s how to cook dried beans in a slow-cooker…..

1. Pour the dried beans into the slow-cooker and add cold water almost to the top to soak for a couple of hours before cooking – no skipping this step. Do this the night.

2. In the morning add a chopped onion - if you remember and you're not running late - otherwise you can skip this step.

3. Turn on the slow-cooker for 5-hours – on high.
4. That’s it - done! Different types of beans take longer – garbanzos for example.
5. After a busy day, easy dinner when dried beans have been cooking all day – smells wonderful!
Once a week – easy dinner: pinto bean and brown rice bowls with fresh tomato salsa.